Journal article
Beyond morbidity and mortality in reintroduction programmes: Changing health parameters in reintroduced eastern bettongs Bettongia gaimardi
TJ Portas, RB Cunningham, D Spratt, J Devlin, P Holz, W Batson, J Owens, AD Manning
ORYX | Published : 2016
Abstract
The eastern bettong Bettongia gaimardi, a potoroid marsupial, has been extinct on the Australian mainland since the 1920s. Sixty adult bettongs were reintroduced from the island of Tasmania to two predator-free fenced reserves on mainland Australia. We examined baseline health parameters (body weight, haematology and biochemistry, parasites and infectious disease exposure) in a subset of 30 (13 male, 17 female) individuals at translocation and again at 12-24 months post-reintroduction. The mean body weight increased significantly post-reintroduction but there were no significant differences in body weight between the two reintroduction sites or between the sexes in response to reintroduction..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council Linkage Grant
Awarded by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship
Funding Acknowledgements
All procedures were approved by the Australian National University Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee ethics protocol A2011/017). Funding was provided by the Australian Capital Territory Government and an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP110100126). ADM was supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT100100358). We thank the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment for assistance with the original reintroduction. We acknowledge Don Fletcher, Andrea Reiss, Peter Holz, Kate Grarock, Elyce Fraser, Ani Kunz, David Dobroszczyk, Scott Ryan, Kym Birgan, Helen Crisp, Claire Wimpenny, Mel Snape, Nicola Munro and Jenny Newport for logistical support. We thank Saul Cunningham, Iain Gordon, Daniel Iglesias, Margaret Kitchin and Sue McIntyre for advice and support. We acknowledge Mulligans Flat-Goorooyaroo Woodland Experiment and Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary for supporting the translocation.